Lucas Gibson

Lucas Gibson was a soldier of the United States who served with the US 80th Infantry Division of George S. Patton's US 3rd Army during World War II. He received a Medal of Honor for preventing a V-2 launch from Braunau-am-Inn, Austria on 7 February 1945 in the last months of the war in Europe.

Biography
Lucas Gibson was born in Virginia in the United States. Originally a miner, he contributed to the USA's war efforts, but he later joined the US 80th Infantry Division, nicknamed the "Blue Ridge Boys" of the US Army. Gibson served under Sergeant Mason of the 80th Infantry Division during the war in Europe, and took part in the fierce battle of Ettelbruck on 23 December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. He continued to serve with the US 3rd Army into Austria, where General George S. Patton planned to end the war. Gibson and his squad were ordered to assault Adolf Hitler's birthplace of Braunau-am-Inn on 7 February 1945, supposedly because there was a hidden German base underneath the town as well. Gibson and his squad discovered a V-2 rocket launch site there, and he planted a bomb on the rocket to prevent it from taking off and killing Allied soldiers and civilians. His prevention of the rocket launch and bravery in the European campaign won him the Medal of Honor.